Question: Simplify the following expression: $y = \dfrac{p^2 + 5p - 36}{p - 4} $
Solution: First factor the polynomial in the numerator. $ p^2 + 5p - 36 = (p - 4)(p + 9) $ So we can rewrite the expression as: $y = \dfrac{(p - 4)(p + 9)}{p - 4} $ We can divide the numerator and denominator by $(p - 4)$ on condition that $p \neq 4$ Therefore $y = p + 9; p \neq 4$